Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Commissioner Adams present. Commissioner Bell present. Commissioner Haynes present. Commissioner Henry. Commissioner Hensel present. Commissioner Marshall. Manager Little here. Mayor Muhammed. Chairman Reid. You have a quorum.

Next. I would like to have your Call the role, please. Commissioner Bell, yes. Commissioner Haynes, yes. Commissioner Hensel, yes. Manager Little, yes. Commissioner Adams, yes. Chairman Reid, yes.

Motion carried. At this time, there were no during January 10th.

I need a motion. I I move we approve the minutes from the November meeting. Commissioner Haynes, yes. Commissioner Hensel, yes. Manager Little, yes. Commissioner Adams, yes. Commissioner Bell, yes. Reed, yes. Motion carried.

At this time, I'd like to open the meeting up for public comments. comments. I will close the public comment of the meeting at this time. I'd like to direct your attention to item number. This time I'd like to open up a little page. That web page is a lot of good information. They want to open up business. And a lot of the information that you website from time to time has to be updated. Recently, we've had a large number of people a lot of understand. So, today we're going to talk about how first of all What is

Many people don't know the difference between the master plan or the community plan as it's correctly called and the zoning ordinance. The community plan is more or less how you want the town or the city to look in 5 to 10 years. The zoning ordinance is how we enforce the master plan. So when we put information on the web page, this has to be information that's up todate and correct and accurate. So if I could get our assistant here, Mr. U Bon, could you bring up the first page of the master plan? I'm sorry, zoning ordinance.

Okay. Can you take us back to basically how to use it? Yeah. So, this is just what should be on the website coming here. Uh, we're just a little ahead of ourselves. I want to go back just a little further. Could you go back to the uh table of contents? Yeah. Yep.

Yeah. That'll put us in a better position. I want y'all to forgive us. We haven't rehearsed this yet, so we're going over it now. You can go Well, you might as well go right back to the beginning of how to use it. When you open this, this gives you a basic idea of what you need to get started and how you're going to find the information that you need. So most of that information uh is in the plan. If you want to go down just a little further. Can we get the light

wider? The light I think he means can you enlarge the screen to maximize it as well as the light? Yes. help a little bit. Yeah, this is what ma you utilize that a little bit. Yeah, this is what McKenna sent for us to look at. [cough] [clears throat] Um, the answer is yes. You can enlarge the P. Yeah. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, you can enlarge it just a little more.

And then center it. Okay. Now, if you want to build an establishment or a particular use, you go through and you can look at the table of contents. I'm going to move down to that. And that basically tells you where to find the information that you might be looking for to get started. And as you go down uh zoning districts uh with the city map, uh those of you who are aware of how to use the map, notice that the city is broken up into zones and the zones will determine what type of activity is permitted in that part of the city. the use standards. Well, that goes into details and explain what the various zone standards are. Go down to the next one, article four. And I'm not going to read all of this to you, but site development uh standards. If you want to do business in the city, it'll tell you what the specific standards are for that part of the zoning area that's mapped. Now, very important, article five, decision making bodies and officials, who makes decisions about what it is that takes place in the zones. And you can see the uh administrative structure, the city commission, planning commission, zoning board of appeals. If for any reason that you don't get the results you want, you can appeal it. And then you have your zoning administrator which is on the staff for the city. Go

down just a little more where we can. And you have your building official. Zoning administration is just that zones. Building administrator has to do with physical structures in the building. And if there are variations or something that needs to be changed, uh we can discuss that because the city uh commission would be in charge of making variations. And then we talk about nonconformities. Nothing is perfect. The map's not perfect. And if there's any reason that something is not matching what's on the map, you can appeal or you can request changes. And we'll talk about that briefly. The reason I'm going over this with you is because we're getting ready to make some changes to make the interface more usable. uh less um mistakes are made and there's a possibility that you discover that that project that you wanted to start before you spend a dime, rent a a building or make take out a lease, we will work with you to help you through the application process. And that's one of the things that we'll touch on briefly.

Mr. Bon, did you want to take them from here on to show them how to utilize it to determine the That's the website, right? Yes. And the reason I'm starting with the website, uh, we needed to actually see what it [clears throat] is so you'll understand it better. So, the changes that we're going to make and we'll talk about it as we go through it. just wanted YouTube listeners to hear that. Is this on YouTube as we look at it?

Okay. You can also go to the city's web page and get a PDF copy of this. The PDF copy will show you the colors much better than you making a copy of it on your own uh printer or uh copying machine. So the most accurate colors would be directly from the website. Word usage and language. You want everybody on the same page so they tell you what type of um language is being used and give you the definitions for it. Okay. You want to move on down a little further. Uh let's keep going down a little further. But I want to get into the part um that shows the various categories. Okay, we're going to stop here. This is the old way it uh was listed and over here in the other side is the new um definitions. This is important so when you're reading the map, you'll know exactly what takes place within a specific zone. Okay, you want to come down a little further. A little further. I want to get to the um usage u part.

Oh, the permitted table. You're asking. Is that what you're asking? The permitted table. Yeah. duplex, but we'll get it's on the permitted table. It's on there. This document, by the way, is 160 pages. We could be here for several days just trying to go through the whole thing. So, I'm just hitting on what most people are going to see when they first open it up and start looking. If you want to sit there and read all of that, then you can do so. Okay, Mr. uh Barton, you want to take it from here?

Um yeah, I'll just go over the permitted table on what we had McKenna or ask them to do with um hyperlinks. Um for so you look up your what you would like to build, duplex or single family or business. Um then you'll come to this permitted table to what your definition of what you'd like to build. Um so let's just do single unit attached dwelling units and then 3.1.2. See how a little hand pops up? You can click on that and it should take you right to that section of that hyperlink to hopefully save some scroll time and take you right to what you're looking for. Um the information on there is still a little bit limited on there um with a little bit more information and uh research. [cough] [clears throat] Sorry, back to

he clicked on one of the um hyperlinks and that took him to the part of the web page or the document that explains what it is. could you kind of hover it over uh a permitted use and then move over to the hyperlink that they show you where you just jumped to. And you notice that when you have an arrow and nothing happens, but if you see the little hand that mean that's an active link and you can click on that and that'll take you to the page in the document. So you won't have to sit here and thumb through 160 pages trying to find the information that you're looking for. So basically those are the things that we going to be updating for the um web page. Now some of the changes that we make requires city commission approval. So site plans would be one of the things that we have to get approved and this is the reason we have public hearings because anything that changes

I think you misspoke special use permits not site plan. Okay require commission approval and site plans we approve right Mr. Mr. Enel has brought it to my attention that we have to have site plan approval. That's what the planning commission does. They also would make a recommendation to the city and then the city would act on our recommendation. Why don't you explain what

we just got things twisted up a little bit. Special use permits are first um recommended by the planning commission to the city commission and then approved by the city commission. Site plans are approved by the planning commission and you're ready to go after you get that approval

chairman. Yes ma'am. These are for all dwellings, businesses as well. And does that apply to new just new structures or both? All meaning all

anything any of those can be found. Here is the question. Old structures, new structures. Yes.

You want me to pull that up?

Look. You want to Okay, this is the zones. that

now to save some time. I was hoping we could give you some examples of what changes that we are going to recommend that the city adopt misspellings. um incorrect um zone um parcel uh identification numbers, things like that, routinely the staff can correct those. But anything that requires a site review must go before the planning commission and we're going to verify that it matches up with the master plan or your community plan as we should say. If it does, we'll ask for a recommendation from the city zoning and the building official to make sure that all of that has been approved. And then they will send that over to us along with the site plan and the application. And this is what we will review. If we're in agreement with it, we then pass it along to the city commission for their approval. So, Mr. Reid, Chairman Reed, there's a color co codeordination with this map and the Okay. Okay.

That's the whole idea. Okay. The map gives you a quick reference you can look at. Okay. But then you got to go to permitted uses to make sure that that's what it is. And then you can go further into the um document and get the rest of the information that you need before you make your application. We also recommend so I'm sorry. Um can you show us the legend on the map? I hope it's there. That shows specifically the answer to your question. see at the bottom of the map color code. Okay.

It tells you Yes. And what that district is and it that keys back then to the ordinance. I just needed him to repeat that because he didn't have his hand on. So that way if you're looking for neighborhood residential where where can you do that? Then you you look at what color it should be find it on the map. Commissioners, additional questions.

Were there some specific questions? Just hearing just one question. Just one at any time any of this is revisable. Correct. [snorts]

Thank you.

There's a big green button up here and if you push it, it'll turn red. Push it again, it'll turn green. However, if all push for the mic, the green doesn't mean anything. So, thank you all for keeping me on track here. Any more commissioner questions? I have another comment. Sorry. Um, changes to the zoning ordinance are rare. uh in general anything in the way of a change requires a review and then through the planning commission and the city commission before any changes can be made. So that's why they're rare and also they require in some cases that attorneys review um and or a consultant review whether or not the changes are advisable. So right now this is the ordinance in place and that's where we stand at the at the moment. This one was adopted by the city commission. So um that's that's what we're working with. If there are changes in the the what do we what are we calling it update those changes will be minor changes and we are not making them on our own. So today was an opportunity for people to talk about these things and um it there are a couple of things that will be recommended uh at some point to the city commission uh to straighten out things like the map that we just talked about. But um you shouldn't count on the ordinance changing for any particular purpose um without going through a process and probably it's not going to happen um

until a couple years have passed. So we see how this one works. Another device that we're going to uh start utilizing is the startup checklist for new businesses. And what we're looking at is your initial application and zoning confirmation. Now, before you sign a lease or purchase property, all new businesses must complete the following. And then we have a list of all of the required forms for you. Uh this checklist can be found or will be found shortly on the city's web page. We have a lot of more information that we want to correct and make sure that that's the information that's going to be used. So before you spend any money or do anything, this is what you need to do. We talk about the required forms, information you should have ready, what the city will provide, what the building department review and inspection is comprised of, the type of permits that would be issued so that you can begin your project. Of course, you're going to have to have a fire inspection and if there are any state or county licenses required, we'll tell you what those are. And final inspections and certification of occupancy. All of this must be approved before you can begin. And the intent here is to help you get through the application process without spending any money if possible.

Now, once you get into this and get involved, we would ask that you have a prech scheduled meeting with the staff and determine is your application correct or is there other information that's required? This will help you to more or less guarantee that you're going to have a successful uh startup. Many times people start doing things before they get permits. Yeah. And this can cause you a problem especially if you're engaging engineers and architects. So those are some of the things we want to look at. Chairman Reed. Yes ma'am.

Does that also apply? We need to be specific to nonprofits as well. even though they may be on a property or what have you that's exempt. Yes. Yes. You want to answer? Okay. Answer is yes. It just needs to be specific so that no one can say that they didn't know. Another thing that needs to go with that construction,

another thing that needs to go with that is that people need to understand when they get a permit, they also need an inspection when that work is complete. And uh we've had situations where people fail to get an inspection and wind up with the walls closed up and that kind of thing. And uh before they can get a uh occupancy permit, if uh they haven't been able to get an inspection, they may have to open those walls up and whatnot and all expense that goes with it to let somebody perform a proper inspection. So he just stated that that's be inspection before, during, and after.

Yes. Okay. I'm not going to read all of the information that's on the checklist because it's still under review. There are some changes that we're going to make to it. Um, all of the changes that we could possibly make, we're still under review and we're still working with our consultant McKenna. So, we'll consult with them and make sure that everything that's posted is accurate and correct. But at this time, are there any questions that you all have?

When we click on um uh selected area here that takes us over to where the written explanation is. Is there a place to click once you get there to bring you back to here? No. And that's one of the changes that we wanted to make because if you're going back and forth through the document, 164 pages,

you could imagine how long this would take you to solve it. Also, this helps the staff. When you come in, you have all of the paperwork that you need. You have the applications that you need. And basically, they're doing a review to make sure that all the the documents are correct. And if uh site planning is required then that will be passed along to the planning commission and we will do the application review of the entire package that you have. So chairman is this something that McKenna is going to do and it's attached to I mean if there's a cost it's attached to what they're already being paid.

Um Mr. Little I think you might be a little bit more up to date on that. Some will be and some may not be.

Uh the public has one more opportunity to speak. If not, yes. Will the property owners be alerted before there's any changing to the zoning map?

Yes. The map can't be changed without a public hearing. So, there'll be plenty of opportunity for the public to see the changes and um make their comments before they're actually made to the map as permanent. Um the planning commission will review them along with their comments and pass it on to the city commission because they they need to actually legally make the change. We just recommend a change. Will there be a letter sent to the to the property owners?

I'm not sure if we're required to do that. I know we post notices of the hearings, but I don't know um what the actual if I'm nuts and bolts of that is.

May I because it seems like when someone comes through planning and economic development that they are aware that that's something that needs to take place that they need to send a letter to the surrounding neighbors wherever they may be. in however many feet or whatever proximity because I think it's unfair that something goes up and you have plans and somebody else has I mean it just should be a part of the protocol. Not everyone's attached to the internet though

and I I also think I heard that question a little differently. Uh what I think I heard would presuppose that we know exactly which property owners need to be alerted and I'm not certain that is the case.

So if the planning commission is going to recommend to make a change to certain parcels and those certain parcels are going to be affected by this change. Yes, they would need a letter as long as well as 300 ft surrounding whatever is going to be changed with the changes that we're discussing today that needs to No, we're talking about like reszoning in general. Okay. Yeah, we're talking about reszoning reasonzoning certain parcels. So far we haven't

or or I'd like to add I mean the question of not just reszoning but that letter of permission or some sort from the surrounding neighbors to approve something like a bar going up next door to me. I mean, if it's a special use, they do get letters. If if somebody applies and they need a special use permit and they come to the planning commission, that is given to the owner as well as everybody within 300 ft of that property for special use.

And if if it's a a use that's currently um in place, it's grandfathered into the new ordinance. So for those people who have properties that have been have approved uses for whatever they're doing there, um those just continue on. Um, and we were talking about nonconformities. If as the planning commission will take a look at an a nonconformity and if it doesn't make the conditions um even more non-conforming, which is kind of a little bit confusing, um the changes can be made. So, it's something you want to check on when it comes to that. But as far as the district's changing and suddenly you're in a different district, it doesn't matter if it you know it turns neighborhood commercial and you had a residential use, you can have a residential use as long as the house is standing. So

um to add on this uh conversation, so I would just for clarification for the site plan. Um so if I have a permitted use that somebody's trying to rehab a building or anything of that nature and they send me in a site plan, everything meets within our ordinance and they filled out a site plan that still has to come to a plan commission even though everything still meets. There's no variances, no special use, nothing of that sort as I understand it. No, that's okay.

You do the review. So, if it's if it's something that isn't any of that or that there are other complicating factors, then you'll bring it to to the planning commission. The point of that and the change of the text of the ordinance was to eliminate the expense and the difficulty in you know getting all the documents together to present only to find out that we would say no. Um espe or in this case if everything is yes then why why would we

and then if it's already a permitted use like going through this zoning ordinance we've already technically said it goes with the planning or the master plan that's why it's a permitted use in our table already. So a special use a variance resoning a pud something major like that then those are triggered for a planning commission. Anything else out of that realm administratively we can do long as they meet everything? Yeah. Okay.

You're looking for zoning compliance and building compliance. Then you make the recommendation to us that it has been approved. uh in issues where something has been approved with conditions. Uh we will indicate at the time of our decision as to what those conditions are and then you can make sure that they're met and proceed without having to come back to us. Although we usually request a followup because we want to know that it was completed or whatever the action was. Okay,

there are a lot of examples we could give you, but these would be work in progress and we don't give out that type of information generally. Okay, if there are no more questions from the public, I would like to close the hearing at this time. Yeah, you can cut the lights back on now.

Okay. You have a meeting scheduled for the remainder of years. I make a motion that we accept the planning commission planning and zoning commission calendar for the year.

Motion is made by Commissioner Adams. Supported by Commissioner supported bill. Call the role, please. Commissioner Hensel. Yes. Manager Little, yes. Commissioner Adams, yes. Commissioner Bell, yes. Commissioner Haynes, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Chairman Reid, yes. Motion carried. Old business. We're looking for an update for 456 South Fair. Mr. uh zoning ordinance.

Um so he has met all mine. Um, he just has a uh temp occupancy with Todd. Uh, I believe it's just outlet. Um, I believe they painted over the outlets when he was painting in there. Um, and it was another minor issue. Um, but that that was it. That's all I've told. He's good on my end for zoning. I just need the full occupancy uh report from Todd, but he's met everything. And you would notify him to let him know that it's been approved. Yeah. Yep. Yep. I've been in contact with Bollocks. So, we're finished with that particular Yep. Okay.

Do we need a motion to accept? We need to um vote to remove the contingencies. Make a motion to remove the contingency on the property of 456 South Fair Avenue, Benon Harbor, Michigan. Support. Motion's made by Commissioner Adams and supported by Commissioner Hensel. Call the RO. Manager Little, yes. Commissioner Adams, yes. Commissioner Bell, yes. Commissioner Haynes, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Hensel, yes. Chairman Reid,

yes. Motion carried. Item number eight, project updates. Is this something that we could make public projects? I I would just give an update on what I'm working on for upcoming businesses. Is this something that we can make public or is this still in progress? in progress. They're all in progress. Okay. Since there's nothing outstanding that we need to act on, I'm not going to expose what this is. Okay.

Okay. Monthly absence report of the members. Uh, Commissioner Marshall indicated that he would not be in attendance and he was excused. training. State law requires that the zoning I'm sorry that the planning commissioners must take 4 hours of training each 12-month period. If we do not meet that requirement, we will not be eligible for reappointment. Training is available. I believe we have several outstanding classes that they can take. I will meet with each one of you individually to ascertain whether or not you have met your requirements. If you have not, I will explain to you what you need to do to catch up on it to make sure that everybody's up to date.

I'm sorry. Excuse me. Did we have some dates that were already set that we were supposed It's a new It's a new 12 year period though. Oh, okay. Okay. So, I have I have given you all um a sheet, okay,

that does have some um map training, Michigan association of planning training, the planning and zoning essentials part one and part two and the zoning ordinance a toz. Definitely recommend that for the newer ones that have not taken it. It's been a couple years since we presented it. Um, I can send out a form. Everybody can pick, you know, what works for them. We can do it in here and we can do multiple sessions if people can't make it. Um, all of the other ones are just ones that they currently offer. They are all webinars, so they're very lowcost, so if there's interest in those, we can try to get everybody together to do them together. These are courses that the city pays for when there is a cost incurred.

Correct. Okay. I think that the listening ears need to know that. Yes. So, we do have the planning and zoning essentials part one and two and the zoning ordinance a a through zoo. We did purchase those already. Um all of the other ones, they're very lowcost being webinars and it would be better if we can just get everybody together. So that way we're not paying for each individual commissioner.

Do we know how many um people have actually taken that? Um not to put you on the spot, but seems to me that that would be a a good group exercise for all the commissioners to take it together as much as possible. So we're sure everyone has it. Chairman, Chairman Reid, Commissioners Hensel, Bell, Henry, Adams, and Marshall have all taken the planning and zoning essentials course. Okay. Okay. Uh on the reports, item D is a repeat of the item A. So

if that ends our session for this time, at this time do any of the commissioners have comments you would like to make?

Is it on the agenda? Okay, Commissioner Bell.

Thank you. I just want to welcome Tannes and say welcome to the vote. Um I am looking forward to working with you. Um and also secondly, um is it possible to just kind of connect with communications board and just make sure that everything that we are doing there's something that maybe we can even just put out so that people know how to access it and maybe even reference this particular meeting so people can go back and kind of watch how um to navigate it. welcome our newest member. I don't know what I was thinking about, but welcome.

Thank you. Thank you guys so much. I'm extremely excited to be a part of something like this and I'm looking forward to be to being a part of helping our community develop and thrive. Any other comments? Motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. support Commissioner Adams and Commissioner Bell. Commissioner Adams. Yes. Commissioner Bell. Yes. Commissioner Haynes, yes. Commissioner Henry, yes. Commissioner Hensel, yes. Manager Little.